


An Understanding

by nebulaesailor



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Autism, Autism Spectrum, Family Fluff, Gen, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Genderqueer, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Non-Binary Corrin, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-23
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-07-16 05:05:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16079042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nebulaesailor/pseuds/nebulaesailor
Summary: Xander is the only person in his family who can really understand or deal with his younger sibling's disabilities.





	An Understanding

**Author's Note:**

> Corrin (Alexis) is autistic here. As is Xander though it's not referenced that much. Corrin suffers from intrusive thoughts too because of C-PTSD hence the weird thoughts they mentioned to Xander. Blah blah intrusive thoughts don't reflect the actual desires of those who have them blah blah blah. This is a v e n t.

“Xander, I’m having bad thoughts again.” Alexis peered into their brother’s room as Xander ran a hand through his hair in irritation, this had been the third time in about an hour that they had alerted him on their thoughts. 

“Alexis, please I need to do this paperwork for Father. Can’t you go talk to Camilla about it?” Xander turned to face them as he noticed their nervous stimming which was much more apparent when they were upset.

“Xander, please I need to talk to you. You make the thoughts go away, also ‘Milla is busy.” They shook their head and rocked back on their heels.

“Fine, what is bothering you?” Xander sighed as they looked at him with shame and embarrassment clearly etched on their face.

“The thoughts I’m having are scary and they make me think that I want to hurt you and everyone else. I’m afraid I’ll kill you or smother you in your sleep. I might even do gross stuff to you like sexual stuff.” They bit their lip and squeezed themself tightly, keeping themself at a distance as they refused to give him eye contact. 

“Alexis, they are just thoughts. I will tell you as I told you hundreds of times before, that if you are truly disgusted by those thoughts then you will never act on them. There isn’t much I can tell you that I haven’t told before you before. I know you very well and know for a fact that you will never do such things especially since you self-harm when these thoughts happen.” Xander gestured them closer and wrapped his arms around them in a hug, Alexis didn’t reciprocate the gesture but did relax enough to let Xander know they were at least comforted by it.

“Can I stay in here with you? You keep the thoughts away.” They muttered as they wormed their arms around him, he sighed through his nose.

“If you are quiet and not pestering me every ten minutes, then yes. Go get some books and or preferably your study materials, they’ll distract you.” Xander ushered them out of the door as he tried to get back to his work, hoping this will be the end of the constant intrusions. 

Alexis came back with a stack of books; on top was a book of Arthurian legends with Aesop's Fables under it, several books on dark magic and healing, with much to his disappointment; only one of their mathematics books. They had always hated mathematics or really anything with numbers, but he at least hoped in their downtime they could catch up on their schooling. But he didn’t really want to put his foot down when they were at least trying to do something other than ruminating on their obsessive thoughts. 

“Are you going to do the math first?” He asked them, wishing they would at least do some of it. 

“No, math sucks.” They snorted as they pulled up a chair next to him to sit at the large desk.’

“Hm, don’t be a brat. Just because you’re not feeling well doesn’t give you the right to be rude to me or anybody else for that matter.” Xander gave them a warning tug on their ear, reminding them he was still their stern older brother.

“Mmmm, that hurts…” They whined as they rubbed their ear and pulled out the book about King Arthur and started off where they had dog eared the page.

Xander gave them a quick glance before he went to writing his report. An hour and a half went by as he noticed that Alexis was leaning on him as they looked close to passing out. He snorted and elbowed them to get their attention, they look up at him with blurry eyes.

“You didn’t get much sleep last night did you? Go take a nap on the bed, Alexis. You are already half-asleep, you’ll feel better when you do.” Xander shrugged them off of him as they whined in irritation. 

“Nooooo, I was getting comfortable…” They pouted and Xander ruffled their hair, pushing them towards the bed.

“Go take a nap. That’s an order.” He said smiling as Alexis balked at him, and crawled under the covers as they crashed the moment their head hit the pillow.

Grateful that his side barnacle was now asleep, Xander could fully turn his attention back to his work. He was done in about an hour as Jakob knocked on the door and gave him the notice that it was tea time and there was tea and snacks awaiting them. Xander was about to dismiss them but felt an uncomfortable question arise in his mind.

“Jakob, Alexis’s thoughts are getting worse as well as their nightmares. Do you know of anything that might be causing them distress?” Xander looked at the butler whose eyebrows instantly furrowed and looked down at his feet.

“My lord, I’ve noticed some troubling things when I help them dress and bathe as well has Felicia and Flora. We noticed some lashes and bruises that aren’t from training. They look like they are from a switch or a whip. They can get pretty nasty.” Jakob looked at him as he noticed the barely concealed rage on Xander’s face.

“Do you know who is doing this to them?’ Xander gritted his teeth as Jakob pulled at his sleeve and glanced back at the ground.

“Iago and your father, my lord.” Xander snapped the quill in his hand as Jakob moved to clean the mess.

“Don’t bother, Jakob. Go serve the others, I’ll be down when Alexis wakes from their nap.” Xander stopped him and led him to the door.

“I have a feeling that the beating might not be the extent of their abuse, my lord. Flora has found some fairly concerning bruising and tearing around their privates-” 

“Jakob, please leave. Just leave.” Xander cut him off and closed the door in his face, breaking into a shaking sob as he tried to rubbed the tears that were starting to form in his eyes.

Xander turned his attention to Alexis who was starting to stir under the blankets, he walked over to the bed as he tried to rouse them from their sleep. 

“Alexis, wake up it’s tea time.” He said softly as they looked at him in confusion.

“Oh. Carry me there then.” They slurred as they stretched out their arms to be carried as Xander rolled his eyes and lifted them up.

“You are twelve, can’t you walk yourself?” Xander teased them as lazily rested their chin on his shoulder.

“Yeah, but I’m too tired to walk.” Xander scoffed as they looked back at him gave him a sleepy smile.

“You just took a nap. You should be bursting with energy.” 

“Well I’m still tired.” They muttered under their breath, as Xander sighed and walked down the steps until they got to the kitchen.

“Well, you can at least walk to the table.” Xander set them down and they let out an irritated snort.

They sat down as Jakob poured him tea, trying to avoid Xander’s gaze as he served both his lieges. Alexis was practically inhaling the freshly baked pastries as Xander took only one and started to nibble on it as Jakob quickly scurried to the side.

“Alexis, would you ever tell me if people were hurting you? Even if they were Father?” Xander asked as Alexis stopped eating and started to curl in on themselves.

“I…” They stuttered as tears started to roll down their cheeks, completely shutting down as Xander got out of his chair to attend to them. 

“Hey, you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. I’m here and so is Camilla as well as your retainers. I promise they won’t hurt you anymore.” Xander placed a reluctant hand on their shoulder as they scrambled out of the chair and clung onto him for dear life, completely nonverbal.

Xander tried to move towards the wall as he sat down with Alexis’s entire body buried within his chest, shaking as their screams were muffled by his shirt. He held onto them tightly, humming some repetitive tune under his breath as he knew talking would make the meltdown worse. Jakob sat next to Xander and tapped on his liege’s shoulder as he held out a worn stuffed dog to them, quickly they grabbed it from him and tightly held it to their chest before stuffing their face back into Xander’s chest. 

“Oh, Ryou. Quick thinking, Jakob.” Xander whispered to Jakob, giving him an appreciative look as they turned their attention back on their charge. 

At least the screaming had stopped, still shaking and sobbing in Xander’s arms but their comfort object had definitely defused the situation. They kept quiet for a few minutes before Alexis had gone completely slack in Xander’s arm, their wet face resting on Xander’s shoulder as Jakob had returned with a warm moist towel and a glass of water. Reluctantly, Alexis down the water and wiped their face with the towel; returning to clinging to Xander like a lifesaver. 

“Thank you, Jakob. I’m sorry I was so rude to you. I was just mad at myself for not noticing sooner. You really are a great retainer to my sibling, I hope you continue to look after them with as much diligence as you have. Much better than I have.” Xander smiled at the servant who blushed profusely as Xander gather Alexis into his arms.

“You are welcome, my lord. They are the most important thing in my life and I don’t want anymore harm to befall them. They already suffer so much being as they are.” Jakob didn’t want to mention their very apparent disabilities and the mistreatment they suffered because of it as they both were very clearly aware. 

“I still just want to say thank you, Jakob. I sometimes feel as if I’m the only one who truly gets them and knows how to deal with them. It’s nice to know there are people on their side.” Xander waved at the servant as he climbed the stairs and into his room where he knew they could both recuperate from the meltdown. 

Settling onto the bed with Alexis curled into his chest, Xander pulled the blankets over them to shield them from a world that didn’t understand them or even try to understand. Their disability was a curse that Xander knew all too well, they had also tried to treat it by beating it out of him but no to avail. He wanted to shelter his sibling from the abuse he had suffered though he already knew it was all too late. At least know he could nip it in the bud, even if the damage had already been down. At least he could stop it now.

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah...it's implied that Iago and Garon did some pretty fucked up shit to Alexis. They can't remember the abuse since they blocked it out but it shows in meltdowns and shutdowns they have and their subconscious through intrusive thoughts and nightmares.


End file.
